Page 473 of Love Bites

“It’s when they’re ovulating and their body wants someone to give them babies,” Maizy suddenly blurted out.

I sat straight up like a lightning rod and glared at her. “Who told you that?”

She tucked a large cucumber in her mouth and smiled. “I saw it on TV. That’s how kittens are born. Can we have a kitten?”

“No,” Wheeler cut in, tearing off a piece of his bread and stuffing it into his mouth. “We don’t like cats around here.”

“That’s all you,” Ben said. “I don’t give a shit about cats.”

“Watch your language around Maizy,” Mom scolded.

“Well,” Wheeler replied, “Idon’t like cats. I don’t want them anywhere near me.”

Ben smirked. “What’s the matter, Wheeler? Afraid of a little pus—”

Austin slapped his hand down on the table and everyone shut up. “We’ll head out before sunrise so we can get as much done as possible before it gets hot. I don’t want to hang around here any longer than we need to, so the sooner we move, the better. I’m going to close out the bills on this place by month’s end.”

After the table was cleared, everyone fell out of their chair when Mom surprised them with peach cobbler and vanilla ice cream.

Yeah, she was definitely worth her weight in gold around this place.

* * *

A few hours after dinner,Austin was sleeping in Jericho’s room with Lexi beside him. Only this time, there was no touching. It was weird since he had spent the previous night pleasuring her for hours. But Austin didn’t want to throw mixed signals by showing her affection that would make her question their nonexistent relationship. Lexi didn’t know the rules of pack life, especially not the dynamic of a single woman in the mix.

As an unmated Packmaster, it was his duty to make sure his women were taken care of. That meant abating Lexi’s discomfort while she was in heat. Single women in packs didn’t sleep around with the men because of the friction it created, so it wasn’t uncommon for them to seek out the alpha for relief. An alpha had more self-control, which would allow him to satisfy her without it resulting in an unwanted pregnancy. Most Shifters had no restraint around a female in heat and couldn’t resist the urge to have sex. Hecouldhave left Lexi alone to take care of business.

But damn, the idea of having his hands on her was an opportunity he couldn’t pass up. Her luscious scent was floral, like roses after a thunderstorm, awaking the male within who desired nothing more than to please her. It was an epic internal battle raging, because he wanted to take it a step further. But sex might have pushed her away and left all kinds of question marks about his intentions. It wasn’t like that among Shifters, but he knew how human women broke it all down. Lexi was a complicated woman and too good for a one-night stand.

So when they crawled into the bed after a second round of peach cobbler, Austin turned his back to her and didn’t say a word. He stole a glance over his shoulder and saw she had done the same thing.

Nothing had felt more awkward.

Sleep was an exercise in futility. All he could think about was wrapping his arm around her and smelling the leftover sunshine in her hair.

He remembered how beautiful she’d looked on the porch that night with a storm brewing in the sky and in her rich brown eyes. The way she looked up at him as the breeze lifted a few strands of her hair. He wondered if he fucked it up by staying with her and not sleeping in another room like originally planned.

Then he thought about Lorenzo, who was an attractive choice for a woman looking for money or status. Most women didn’t hesitate to choose him, and Austin had learned that the hard way years ago when Lorenzo Church wooed Austin’s first Shifter girlfriend away from him. Not exactly a way to build up an alpha’s confidence. Regardless of how he felt about the asshole, Lexi had a right to learn about her family. She possessed Native American features, now that he thought about it. High cheekbones, beautiful brown hair, and supple lips. Yeah, supple. The kind that he wanted his mouth all over the more he remembered their kiss on that porch and the sweet taste of sugar on her tongue.

She was no longer the girl he once remembered, but in a strange way, she was. The qualities he loved in her she had never lost, even though her body had blossomed into that of a stunning woman.

Sleeping beside Lexi without touching her was one of the hardest things Austin had ever done. The idea of her being with any other man, or in any other pack, made his wolf pace nervously.

When he had taken her out to The Pit on their date, Beckett had been waiting outside for them.

With a baseball bat.

Austin had picked up a strong scent of adrenaline and instead of walking straight to his car, he’d gone around the back of the building. That’s when he confronted Beckett and they got into a brawl. It was against the law to kill a human, so all he could do was beat the shit out of him. By the time he got back to the restaurant, Lexi was nowhere to be found.

Twice he almost lost her, thanks to Beckett. He shouldn’t have been distracted by his phone when Beckett had crept into her apartment, nor should he have confronted Lorenzo’s guard while Beckett was attacking her. That split-second decision had almost cost Lexi her life. Austin didn’t have any remorse over the murder. Even if they did find the body, he stood a good chance of justifying his actions.

If he didn’t? Then fuck it. She was alive and that’s all that mattered.

Thinking about it made him want to pull Lexi against him and feel her heartbeat, but he stayed where he was, content with listening to her breathe as he stared at the misshapen patterns on the wall. She made sexy little growling noises in her sleep that his wolf loved. He always liked watching her sleep, even when she was a kid. She looked so peaceful, as if nothing in the world was wrong, even when it was.

The next morning,Austin woke up before dawn and carefully crawled out of bed. Lexi rolled over and threw her right arm across the sheets, nuzzling her face against the pillow. After getting dressed, he watched her for a few beats before waking up the rest of the crew. It gave him peace of mind to know Prince was tracking down her father—just one less thing he had to worry about.

One advantage of making allies among neighboring packs was that they looked out for one another, reported suspicious activity, and were more likely to lend a hand than a rogue was. Not many packs occupied the immediate territory, but Austin had spent time building a rapport with the Packmasters, making them aware of his situation with the human family. Something he would have to start all over again in the new house. There were three packs in his immediate area, and one of them belonged to Church.

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